Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Trading Up 1.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Analyst Upgrade: Novo Nordisk A/S shares increased by 1.3% after Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded the stock from a market perform to an outperform rating.
• Mixed Ratings: The stock has seen various ratings changes, with four analysts giving it a Buy rating and a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $81.00.
• Quarterly Earnings Report: The company reported earnings per share of $0.97, exceeding estimates, with a net margin of 35.60% and a revenue of $11.69 billion for the quarter.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 1.3% during trading on Wednesday after Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. The stock traded as high as $55.05 and last traded at $55.03. 7,137,751 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 11,771,351 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.30.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on NVO. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $105.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. HSBC downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $81.00.

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 301,443.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 10,005,216 shares of the company's stock worth $690,560,000 after purchasing an additional 10,001,898 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the first quarter valued at about $370,272,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,244,931 shares of the company's stock valued at $537,189,000 after buying an additional 2,639,693 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter valued at about $158,657,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 49.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,938,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $331,576,000 after buying an additional 1,627,051 shares during the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Up 1.2%

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $245.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 78.64% and a net margin of 35.60%.The firm had revenue of $11.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $77.51 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.4119 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 240.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.53%.

About Novo Nordisk A/S

Novo Nordisk A/S, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceutical products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, North America, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Diabetes and Obesity Care, and Rare Disease.